Vane type booster pump



Filed Aug.

- Russell E. Curzzs ,M JM 1W W l aw .Le

-said passageway.

"Patented Mey '14,1946

p UNITED s'rA-r Es yPAIENT ori-fici;

VANE TYPE noos'mn PUMP aussen a. omis, Dayton, ohio, signor to CurtisPump Company, Dayton, Ohio. a corporation of Ohio f Application August7, 1944'Serial No. 548,336

(ci. ros-11s) I 7 Claims.

-but it should be understood that the Pumps of this invention have vvideusage in separating vaiors from liquids and in pumping fully liquidmaeria According to the invention an lairplane fueltank, preferablyvented to the atmosphere, is provided with an apertured bottom wall. Apump and motor unit has a base mounting piateclosing the bottom wallaperture of the tank-and supporting the pump and vinotor'unit "in `thetank. v The pump is equipped with an agitator adjacent the bottom of thetank. An open-ended passageway is provided foriliquid fuel and theagitator acts on the fuel flowing through this passageway to separatevapors and gases in the fuel from' the liquid fuel. Bubbles of gases andvapors are formed which rise freely thITOllEh the pond out of thepassageway. A vane-type -pump has an niiet communicating with thepassageway.' .This inlet is covered with a screen which prevents passageof bubbles therethrough. The positivedisplacement pump thus onlyreceives agitated liquid from which the vapors have been separated, .andpropels this liquid to a fuel line. Anv electric' motor drives therotary vane pump' andis carried above the pump from the same baseplate.=

. It is, then, an object of the invention to provide a vane typevapor-separating pump.

,Another object of the inventionis to provide a booster pump'fuelsystemwhich agitates the fuel to separate lvapors andgases therefrom and whichpositively'propels the fully liquid fuel.

Another "object of the invention is to pro-f' rating pump.

A further object `of the invention is to provide v A still furtherobject of the invention is to provide a vane-type -pump 'with an annularvaporseparating chamberand a screened inlet preventing passage ofbubbles of gas and vapor therethrough.

Other vand further objects of the invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art fromf the following detailed description oftheannexed sheet of drawings, whieh,fby way of preferred example only,illustrates one embodiment of the invention. On the 'drawingz' Figure lis afragmentary and broken vertical cross-sectional -view, with parts inelevation, of a vane type boosterpump according to this inventionmountedin a tank.

Figure 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view, taken along the lineII--II- of Figure 1.

As shown on the drawing:

In Figure 1, the reference numeral I0 .desig-L nates generally a fueltank of an airplane containing a pond P. of liquid gasoline.' The 'tanki0 has a bottom wall I I apertured as at lia.

. A pump and motor unit I2 is mounted in the` tank Ill on a base plate Il which closes the aperture I Ia ofthe tank bottom wall I I. .A'mountingring I4 is seated in' the tank Il i on thebottom wall II around theaperture IIa thereof and cap screws I5 are passed through the base plateI3 and bottom wail I I into threaded relation in the mounting ring 'I4for securing the pump and motor unit I2 in the tank and vfor sealing theaperture' I Iaof the tank A sealing gasket (not shown) can be interposedbetween the base plate I3 and the. tank wall I I".

. vThe base'plate I3 has an aperture Ila therein closed by a cover orcap IB which is secured to the plate I3 by means of cap screws I1. Adrain vplus I8 is provided in the cap It.

The base I3 has an upstanding tubularv leg I. closed at thebottom bymeans of a. cap 20 and receiving a conduit fitting 2i at the top Athereof. A single bolt 22 is passed through the. cap 2l andthreaded intoa hub 2Ia of the conduit fitting and secures the fitting and cap in povide .a positive-displacement type vapor-sepaa pump and motor unitadapted to be submerged 50 in a pondyof liquid and having .an open-endedannular passageway through which theliquid can freely flow together-withan agitator for beatlnil out bubbles of gas and vapor from the liquidinsition. 'Ihe fitting 2| andcap 20 can be interchanged.

The opstanding tubular leg I 9 has a horizontal tubular portion 23projecting therefrom reinforced bya rib 24. An upstandingilange 25projectsv upwardly from the end.l ofthe tubular portion' and isalsoreinforced'by the rib 2.4. Thisportion Il carries a horizontal ring28 at the uppeiI lid thereof on which is mounted a casing head. t' foran electric motor 28.' The elecvtric motor is covered by a 'casingv 29supported on the head 21. The head 21'-has a hollow verticalboss-portion 21a carrying a bearing 28a for the motorshaftl 30. Astationary seal 3l is mounted in the boss portion' 21a and coacts with arotatingseal ring 32 driven by the shaft 30.

A gear 33 is secured on the lower end of shaft 30 in meshed relationshipwith a gear 34 of. a

l pump shaft 35.

The tubular portion 23 carries a vertical tubular housing 36 throughwhich the pump shaft'35 bottomed by a ring plate 40 which is secured bymeans of cap screws such as 4| to the bottom end wall of the casing 36.

A pump rotor 42 is mounted in the casing 36 and receives the`drive shaft35 therethrough in pressed relation. The rotor 42 has hub portions 32arotatably mounted in the` bearing rings 31 and 39.' Vanes 43 areslidably mounted in slots @2b of the rotor 42 and have outer endportions -riding on the inner wall 33a of the liner which provides theeccentric pump bore.

The liner 38 has a plurality ofl inlet slots 33h aligned-with an inletopening seb m the side wan -of the casing 36 remote from the( tubularpor- .tion 23.

The liner 38'has a plurality of similar slots 38e aligned with apassageway 23a providedby the vtubular leg 23.

A cylindrical screen 44 is disposed around the casing 36 and covers theinlet opening 36h thereof. The screen et is supported on the plate it yA cylindrical collar or metal shield 45 is discarries the agitator 41 atthe lower end thereof and the propeller blades 41h act on liquid in thepassageway 46 to beat out the gases and vapors therefrom for liberatingthe bubbles B. The pump shaft 35 also drives the pump rotor 42 and thevanes 43 act on the bore 33a of the liner 33 to positively propel liquidfrom the inlet 36h of the casing through the passageway 23a of thevtubular member 23. This passageway 23a comsured into the passageway 13aand ows therefrom through the conduit nipple 2| into the fuel line ofthe airplane.

The bubbles B in the passageway 46 cannot pass through the screen 44since they are larger than the screen mesh. However, these bubbles arefree to rise through'the passageway so that the passageway does notbecome gas-bound.

. From the above descriptions it will be understood that thepump of thisinvention vigorously agitates and churns fuel in a localized openendedpassageway provided around the pump in a pond of the fuel in-which thepump is mounted. The thus agitated and churned liquid has bubbles ofgases and vapors separated therefrom. These bubbles are too large topass through a screen which covers the inlet of Athe vane-type pump.vThe vane type pump thus only receives bubblefreed liquid and propelsthis liquid under positive pressure to the fuel line leading from thetank.

' of the fuel which'passes through the annular gap or passageway betweenthe collar 46 and the posed around the screen 44 in spaced parallelrelation therefrom and has a cut-out portion receiving the tubular leg23 therethrough. The collar 65 is supported against the upstanding legi3 of the unit and is held in fixed relationship .around the screen vtoprovide an'annular openended vertical passageway-46 communicating at itstop and bottom with the pump P.

As shownv in Figure 1, the, lower end of the collar G5 hagan outturned1ip`45a"providing a! somewhat enlarged mouth at the bottom of thepassageway 46. The shaft-36 -projectsbeyond the bottom of the casing 36and a dishecl metal disk` 41 is bolted on` this extended endof theshaft. The disk 41 has anupstanding annular skirt 41a surrounding thelower end of the casing 36 and Y projecting upwardly into the passageway46.

Iscreen, 44 will be agitated'by the blades 41h to beat out the bubbles Bof vapor and gas from the liquid. The blades 41b of the propeller arepreferably adjusted at angles which will actually impel the fuelupwardly through the passageway iples` of this invention and it is,therefore. not

the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise thannecessitated by the scope of the ,appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination, a rotary vane pump having` an inlet and an outlet, ascreen covering the Propeller blades 41h project radially outward v fromthe upper end-of the skirt-41a. The propeller blades arepitchedto causeagitation of liquid inthe passageway P for excessively beating theliquid infjthe passageway to liberate inlet of said pump, and anagitator adjacent said 'inlet acting on material about to enter theinlet prevent passage of the liberated bubbles therebubbles Bofvaporsand gas therefrom. These bjuli'lles rise through. the passageway 46 andthrough the pond P to burst at the surface of the l through.

` ciated with vsaid unit having an inlet communipond for dischargingtheir gases and vapors from the liquid. v

In operation, the unit ,l2 ls submerged inl the pond Poi the tank and,of course, the passageway d6 thereof is filled with liquid since it yisin free communication with the pond at both the top and bottom endsthereof.

The motor 23 drives the motor shaft 30 fordriving the pump shaft 35.This pump shaft eating with said pond, a screen covering said inlet, andanagitator associated with said unit acting on liquid in the pond aboutto enter the inlet of the pump for beating out bubbles of gas and vaportherefrom, said screen having a meshisufiiciently fine to retard passageof the liberated bubbles therethrough.

3. A vaporseparator and pump assembly comprising -apiimp having a`screened inlet, means defining an open-ended passageway along saidscreened inlet.l and a propeller in said passagepassageway and agitatingthe liquid to beat out bubbles of gas and vapor therefrom larger thanvway arranged for ilowing liquid` through the the meshes of the screenwhereby liquid entering the pump is degasiiled.

4. A pump and motor unit .comprising `vertically spaced pump and motorcasings, a positive displacement pump in said pump casing, a mo tor insaid motor casing having a shaft driving said pump, a mounting base forsecuringk the .unit in submerged position in atank. a shield'surrounding the motor casingdeilning an open-- ended verticalpassageway between the casing A and shield, said pump casing having anopeningl between the endse of the passageway providing a pump inlet, andan agitating propeller driven by the motor shaft having vanes in thelower end` of the passageway arranged. for beating out bubbles of Agasand vapor from liquid and for flowing bubble-rich liquid upwardlythrough 1,

the passageway.

'5. In combination, a tank, a pump in the tank,

a shield in the tank surrounding the pump in spaced relation defining auopen-ended vertical passage in the tank, said pump having an inletcommunicating with the passage; and an agitating propeller in the lowerend oi' the passage therefrom.

gasify the,` liquids before they aregpumped.

6. In combination,-a pump arranged for subv mersion in a pond of liquid,a shield surroundin g said pump in spaced relation and d'ening a' fluidflow path around the pump, said pump having an inlet openingcommunicating with saidfluid ilow path, and a propeller in said fluid l0ilow path arranged for flowing liquid through the path and agitating theliquid-to' beat out bubbles of gas and vapor ,therefrom'for feedingfully liquid material from said pond said inlet of the pump.` t

'141A pump and motor assembly comprising a unit having a vane type pump,an electric motor drivingly connected with the pump, a propellerdrivingly connected with the motor, and means for mounting the pump inai tank, a collar surrounding said pump receiving said propelleryltherein and defining the outerwa-ll of an ope'n endedy .annular passagearound the pump, and

said pump having an inlet communicating with -V said passage forreceiving fully liquid material therefrom, said propeller beingeffective toow lliquid through the flow path and to agitatexthe liquidfor releasing bubbles of gas. a'ndvvapor Bussum. R. cpa'rrs.

